Can the north end handle a hotel?

If you build it, will people come?

That’s the question Whitney Beach Plaza owner Ryan Snyder is grappling with this summer as he explores the possibility of building a 100-room boutique hotel on the plaza site.

“We are currently determining if it’s feasible to build a mixed-use hotel and commercial structure on the site,” Snyder said.

Snyder told the Longboat Observer last month he was meeting with town staff to discuss the future of the plaza. Snyder said it’s been difficult to attract tenants in the plaza's larger sites, even with an offer of free rent for up to three years.

Snyder met with Planning, Zoning and Building Director Alaina Ray and District 5 Commissioner Pat Zunz to discuss options for the site last month.

Snyder said anyone he talks to about the future of the site “brings up the 'hotel' word.”

“But the biggest challenge to overcome is the property is not beachfront,” Snyder said. “So I’m determining if it’s viable to construct a hotel where you don’t have a beach as a backyard.”

Snyder said he’s in the midst of performing both market and cost of construction studies for a hotel on the site.

 “I need to know the average daily room count numbers and what to expect in terms of hotel revenue,” Snyder said.

Snyder said rough estimates suggest it would cost $100,000 per unit to build, putting the cost of a 100-room hotel at approximately $15 million.

“I have little hotel experience, so there’s a learning curve I’m getting up to speed on,” Snyder said. “But any part of a new structure would include a commercial component.”

Snyder said he believes the north end can only support 10,000 of the approximately 50,000 square feet of commercial space in the plaza.

Snyder was told he could apply for tourism units from the town’s pool of 250 tourism units that can be distributed on a case-by-case basis to help restore the level of tourism the island achieved in the year 2000 before hotels like the Longboat Key Holiday Inn closed.

Zunz believes a boutique hotel on and around the plaza site is what the north end needs as part of its revitalization process.

“A boutique hotel makes the plaza or any other commercial component in the area more useful and sustainable,” Zunz said.

“A boutique hotel makes the plaza or any other commercial component in the area more useful and sustainable."

— Longboat Key Commissioner Pat Zunz

Snyder said the input he’s received so far from the town and Villagers is they don’t want a future hotel to be tall.

“It won’t be a towering monstrosity and it would co-exist with the Village and other north-end structures,” Snyder said. “At most, we’re talking 40 feet tall over parking for a maximum of three stories.”

Snyder also met with members of the Longboat Key Revitalization Task Force to discuss options for the site.

“Everyone has gone out of their way to be very supportive of any revitalization effort we bring forth,” Snyder said. “There’s a lot of support for a hotel on this site.”

In June 2012, the Longboat Key Town Commission approved an overlay district for the plaza, former bank building, vacant gas station and a series of residential-zoned vacant lots that straddle Bishop’s Bayou on Gulf of Mexico Drive just north of Broadway.

Although the district allows for flexibility with a mixed-use combination of residential and tourism components, it doesn’t specify building height changes that are crucial to a future development of the plaza and other sites.

Ray says the land development code and Comprehensive Plan change process the town is undergoing will help Snyder in his efforts to have flexibility on the site.

“The overlay district was great in theory but what was accomplished doesn’t help me right now,” Snyder said. “The code changes being done right now will help address what I can or can’t do with regard to a hotel.”